Voting as a Rational Choice: Why and How People Vote to Improve the Well-Being of Others

For voters with "social" preferences, the expected utility of voting is approximately independent of the size of the electorate, suggesting that rational voter turnouts can be substantial even in large elections. Less important elections are predicted to have lower turnout, but a feedback mechanism keeps turnout at a reasonable level under a wide range of conditions. The main contributions of this paper are: (1) to show how, for an individual with both selfish and social preferences, the social preferences will dominate and make it rational for a typical person to vote even in large elections;(2) to show that rational socially-motivated voting has a feedback mechanism that stabilizes turnout at reasonable levels (e.g., 50% of the electorate); (3) to link the rational social-utility model of voter turnout with survey findings on socially-motivated vote choice.

Development of Two-Regression Models to Predict Energy Expenditure in Youth Using a GENEActiv and Axivity AX3 Activity Monitor

PURPOSE: The purpose was to develop two regression models (2RM) to estimate energy expenditure (EE) using wrist-worn GENEActiv (GENEA) and Axivity AX3 (AX3) activity monitors in youth. METHODS: Youth (N=100; mean ± [plus or minus] SD; age, 12.2±3.5 years) performed 16 activities ranging from sedentary behaviors (SB) to vigorous physical activities (VPA). Participants wore a GENEA and AX3 monitors on the opposite wrists. Monitors were randomized for which device was worn on which wrist. A Cosmed K4b2 (K4b squared) was used as the criterion measure of EE. Raw 100 Hz acceleration data were expressed as Euclidean norm minus one (ENMO) and reduced to one-second epochs. 2RMs were developed for the GENEA and AX3 worn on the left and right wrists. Leave-one-participant-out cross-validation (LOOCV) was used to assess model performance. Using the entire activity bout, estimates of average EE from the four 2RMs and a previously developed single regression equation were calculated and estimates of time spent in different physical activity (PA) intensity levels were calculated using the four 2RMs and five single regression equations and ROC cut-points. RESULTS: Log-transformed ENMO was used for the development of the classifiers. Log-transformed ENMO and age were used as predictor variables in the regression equations. For the LOOCV, the four 2RMs had root mean square errors (RMSE) of 0.84-0.95 youth metabolic equivalents (METy [MET y]) and mean absolute percent errors (MAPE) of 19.21-20.71%. For the entire activity bout, RMSE for the 2RMs ranged from 0.40 METy to 0.60 METy and the Hildebrand single regression ranged from 0.97 METy to 1.25 METy. The four 2RMs were within ± 10.3 minutes of measured minutes of SB, light PA (LPA), moderate PA (MPA), and VPA. All other methods were within ± 61.5 minutes of measured minutes of SB, LPA, MPA, and VPA. CONCLUSION: Compared to indirect calorimetry, the newly developed 2RMs had lower RMSE and MAPE for estimates of METy and time spent in PA intensity levels than previously developed methods. Future studies should validate the 2RMs using an independent sample in a free-living environment

Mechanoresponsive drug delivery materials

Stimuli-responsive drug delivery materials release their payloads in response to physiological or external cues and are widely reported for stimuli such as pH, temperature, ionic strength, electrical potential, or applied magnetic field. While a handful of reports exist on materials responsive to mechanical stimuli, this area receives considerably less attention. This dissertation therefore explores three-dimensional networks and polymer-metal composites as mechanoresponsive biomaterials by using mechanical force to either trigger the release of entrapped agents or change the conformation of implants. At the nanoscale, shear is demonstrated as a mechanical stimulus for the release of a monoclonal antibody from nanofibrous, low molecular weight hydrogels formed from bio-inspired small molecule gelators. Using their self-healing, shear-thinning properties, mechanoresponsive neutralization of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) in a cell culture bioassay is achieved, suggesting utility for treating rheumatoid arthritis. Reaching the microscale, mechanical considerations are incorporated within the design of cisplatin-loaded meshes for sustained local drug delivery, which are fabricated through electrospinning a blend of polycaprolactone and poly(caprolactone-co-glycerol monostearate). These meshes are compliant, amenable to stapling/suturing, and they exhibit bulk superhydrophobicity (i.e., extraordinary resistance to wetting), which sustains release of cisplatin >90 days in vitro and significantly delays tumor recurrence in an in vivo murine lung cancer resection model. This polymer chemistry/processing strategy is then generalized by applying it to the poly(lactide-co-glycolide) family of biomedical polymers. As a macroscopic approach, a tunable, tension-responsive multilayered drug delivery device is developed, which consists of a water-absorbent core flanked by two superhydrophobic microparticle coatings. Applied strain initiates coating fracture to cause core hydration and subsequent drug release, with rates dependent on strain magnitude. Finally, macroscopic, shape-changing polymer-composite materials are developed to improve the current functionality of breast biopsy markers. This shape change provides a means to prevent marker migration from its intended site—a current clinical problem. In summary, mechanoresponsive systems are described, ranging from the nano- to macroscopic scale, for applications in drug delivery and biomedical devices. These studies add to the nascent field of mechanoresponsive biomedical materials and the arsenal of drug delivery techniques required to combat cancer and other medical ailments.2017-10-27T00:00:00

Time, Distance, and Epic Memory in The Tempest

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Languages and Literature of Bard College

The career anchors, job involvement and job satisfaction of professional people

Bibliography: leaves 363-394.The study was designed primarily to test the effect of career orientations on the work outcomes of job satisfaction and job involvement among South African professional people. The hypotheses relating the career orientation, job satisfaction and job involvement constructs were extrapolations from the original theory of Edgar Schein (1978,1985, 1987b). Secondary aims included an initial assessment of the psychometric properties of the measuring instruments for a South African sample, and comparisons among the 14 professional groups sampled on each of the dependent variables